3 Days until WE go to Transform Tanzania

It is Tuesday 6/4/13 and I leave on Friday 6/7/13 to go back to Mwanza! What a whirlwind the last two months have been!!  In April when I quit my job and started focusing full-time on preparing to return to Mwanza,  all I could remember were these faces I needed to get back to!

 But the 'Doubting Thomases' said, "How can you hope to raise support in this economy?" and "How will you raise what you need in less than two months?"  Simple answer is that God promised me PROVISION this year-- and I believed Him!  He called me so I have to GO and only He can make that happen!  You see, God stirs the hearts of His children who can't go to GIVE of what He has given them so that others can GO!  So there are those that pray--giving of their time; those that contribute financially--even sacrificially in faith; and then I am the one to GO!  Thing is I can't go without the pray-ers and the giv-ers and each and every one of them goes right along with me, all the way to Mwanza!  You know who you are--and if you never get come visit, I promise you, those I have the privilege of serving will come up and hug your neck in Heaven and thank you for sending me to tell them about Jesus!  Humbling and awesome for all of us!

This has been my favorite promise of PROVISION this year; I read this in my favorite daily devotional, Charles Spurgeon's Mornings and Evenings, on New Year's Day a week after I had returned from Mwanza in December 2012: 

Joshua 5:12 "They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. " Israel’s weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall begin to be “for ever with the Lord.” A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the New Year’s text should not still be true. “We who have believed do enter into rest.” The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; he gives us “glory begun below.” In heaven they are secure, and so are we preserved in Christ Jesus; there they triumph over their Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this is not denied to us; they rest in his love, and we have perfect peace in him: they hymn his praise, and it is our privilege to bless him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels’ enemies, and we have victories too. food of old, and why not now? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this year! 

May seem strange to you that a Third World Country would be 'my Promised Land' on earth, my place of rest, the place I go deeper with the Lord (no church services in English, even) but it is!  It is home to me--I have been restless for the almost 4 long years that I have been back in Louisiana!  But I will eat of the fruit soon: mangoes, bananas, lots of 'old corn' ground into ugali!! HA!  But much more the spiritual fruit that He will bless me with: peace, joy, a stronger faith, the love of so many there, and the privilege to serve the least of them in His name!

So when you think, "Wow, Kay is so brave and so spiritual to go to Africa."  Remember that it is simply the place God has called me to be--He has work for me there--HARD WORK.  It has been my responsibly to prepare myself, enlist others to partner with me and now to GO!  But I say YOU are "brave" for giving to my ministry sacrificially during this horrible economy!!  YOU are "so spiritual" to pray for me and my ministry--some of you every day!!  Raising support has not been an easy task, but it has been a huge blessing--really!! And, as usual,  God has come through!!!  Thank you so much to FirstWest for sending me and handling the financial details for me!!  Love my church!  THANK YOU to every prayer warrior, contributor, garage sale worker, buyer of stuff and so many more!  Because see--we are all in this together!  We are going to Transform Tanzania TOGETHER for the Gospel of Jesus Christ--our Hope, our Deliverer, our Redeemer!! See you in Mwanza!!